Grand Preview Dinner & Festival VIP Pass
Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center, Monticello
Friday, September 6, 6:30 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Saturday, September 7, 9 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Reservations required. Individual $129; Couple $240
Enjoy an exclusive VIP experience that includes all that this year’s Heritage Harvest Festival has to offer. Learn from special guests Steve Bender and Dr. Cary Fowler about the development of the uniquely American garden, discovering more about how modern farmers can contribute to and preserve genetic diversity in our plant varieties. Relish the fresh flavors of the Virginia harvest season with two meals that spotlight the best of local gardens and farms.
The Festival VIP Pass Includes:
- The Grand Preview Dinner with Steve Bender and Dr. Cary Fowler
- General Admission to the Festival
- Preferred Parking at the Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center
- Harvest Picnic at the Garden Terrace Tent
Friday, September 6, 6:30 p.m. – 9 p.m.
- The Grand Preview Dinner with Steve Bender and Dr. Cary Fowler
Jefferson wrote, “The greatest service which can be rendered to any country is to add a useful plan to it’s culture.” The Heritage Harvest Festival keynotes couldn’t agree more. Join Southern Living senior writer and gardening expert Steve Bender and “the world’s seed banker” Dr. Cary Fowler for the Grand Preview of the Heritage Harvest Festival. Discover how plant varieties were introduced from Africa and Europe, influencing the uniquely American garden.
The evening will focus on the importance of genetic diversity starting from your backyard to the global scale. Steve Bender will start the evening discussion on how gardeners can contribute to genetic diversity. Dr. Cary Fowler, profiled in the New Yorker for his pioneering work at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, will discuss the global implications of preserving diversity.
- A field-to-fork dinner following the Grand Preview featuring the bounties from local gardens and farms! Seasonal menu available in late summer.
Saturday, September 7, 9 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.
- General admission to the Heritage Harvest Festival
- Preferred parking at the Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center
- Harvest Picnic at the Garden Terrace Tent catered by A Pimento
- Please note that Friday and Saturday premium workshops require additional registration.
Steve Bender
Steve Bender grew up in Lutherville, MD and was exiled to Alabama in 1983 for reasons that remain secret to this day. He loves fried okra and often selects dinner wine based on whether it goes well with fried okra. His mission is to make gardening uplifting, accessible, and inspirational to all. He will no doubt succeed. Follow him on Twitter: @grumpy-gardener. Also on Facebook: facebook.com/SLGrumpyGardener.
- Senior Writer Southern Living magazine.
- Editor and writer of the best-selling Southern Living Garden Book, Southern Living Landscape Book, Southern Living Garden Problem Solver, and Callaway Gardens — Legacy of a Dream.
- Co-author of Passalong Plants, published by the University of North Carolina Press.
Dr. Cary Fowler
Dr. Cary Fowler’s international career in the conservation and use of crop diversity spans almost 40 years. Most recently Cary was Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust.
In the 1990s, Cary headed the International Conference and Programme on Plant Genetic Resources at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which produced the UN’s first ever global assessment of the state of the world’s plant genetic resources. He drafted and supervised negotiations of FAO’s Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources, adopted by 150 countries in 1996. That same year he served as Special Assistant to the Secretary General of the World Food Summit. Currently he is a member of the Boards of the New York Botanical Garden Corporation and Rhodes College, and he chairs the International Advisory Council of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The Vault provides a secure backup for the world’s seed collection and is the single largest collection of crop diversity in the world. Inside the Seed Vault, Fowler and his team work to ensure that the world’s food supply has the diversity needed to address the omnipresent threats of pests, diseases, and climate change.
Cary has been profiled by CBS 60 Minutes, The New Yorker, and New Scientist, and is the author of several books on the subject of crop diversity and more than 100 articles on the topic in journals on agriculture, law, and development.